Emma Watson Sees Fair Trade in Action in Bangladesh
Emma Watson strikes us as the type of intelligent, thoughtful actress who really considers the impact her fashion choices can have on her young fans. So we are pleased to see this open letter on fair-trade brand People Tree’s website posted by the Harry Potter star, following a summer trip to Bangladesh with People Tree founder Safia Minney:
The contrast between the slums in Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh) where the people who work in the garment factories live and Swallows (the Fair Trade community supported by People Tree) was all too apparent. …
I cannot imagine how I would have the mental ability and strength to go into the garment factories in the slums everyday and have my children living six hundred miles away.
We interviewed a woman in the slum in Dhaka. She was very candid about the fact that there just wasn’t any hope for her. There is no hope for anyone living in those conditions and being paid that kind of wage. Coming to Swallows I see that there is an alternative.
The living conditions are modest but it’s clean and there is a real sense of community, their families are together and they seem to love and be proud of what they are doing – many things that we in the West take for granted.
Swallows is special and I need to believe for my own peace of mind that there will be more places like this in the developing countries in the world.
The whole interview is worth reading for its candid look at the benefits fair-trade manufacturing offers workers, and it concludes with a video of Ms. Watson touring Bangladesh and modeling People Tree’s fall collection.

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